Everything Playstation

Yoshida, confirms move back to Sony Japan? July 7, 2008

Sony’s president of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida has confirmed he will soon be based back in Japan, to contribute to the company’s future products and direction.

The move follows the promotions of Michael Denny to senior vice president of Worldwide Studios Europe, and Scott Rohde to vice president of Worldwide Studios America.

“I am moving my base from the US to Japan later this year, because one of the roles that I feel myself and Worldwide Studios will play for the future of PlayStation is not only to create games, but to participate in the overall direction-setting of our company and our future platforms,” said Yoshida, speaking to Threespeech.

“Since Kaz Hirai took over Ken Kutaragi’s position, he has been pushing and inviting us and regional headquarters people to the core strategic discussions.

“Our tech people in Worldwide Studios are in constant meetings with tech people in Tokyo on the hardware side. So I feel I have to be in Tokyo – to participate in the top management group of SCEI and really achieve the vision that Kaz has in terms of how this company should work going forward,” he detailed.

Yoshida was named president of SCE Worldwide Studios in May, taking over from Phil Harrison who left the company to join Atari.

He has been with Sony in the US since 2000, and prior to that was based in Tokyo as part of Sony Computer Entertainment Japan.